Syed Saddiq gets seven years' jail, RM10 million fine, two strokes of the rotan

KUALA LUMPUR - Muar Member of Parliament Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman was sentenced to seven years' jail, two strokes of the cane and fined RM10 million by the High Court today.

This was after he was found guilty of four charges of abetting in criminal breach of trust (CBT), misappropriation of property and money laundering in connection to Angkatan Bersatu Anak Muda (Armada) funds.

Judge Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid sentenced Syed Saddiq to three years' jail and one stroke of the cane for abetting in CBT and two years and one stroke of the cane for misappropriation of property.

For two other charges of money laundering, the 30-year-old former youth and sports minister was sentenced to two years imprisonment and fined RM5 million, each.

Syed Saddiq will also have to serve another four years in prison if he fails to pay the fine.

Azhar also ordered the jail sentence for abetting CBT and misappropriation of property to run consecutively, while the jail sentence for money laundering to run concurrently, beginning today.

However, the judge granted Syed Saddiq's application for a stay of execution of the sentence pending appeal in the Court of Appeal.

"The court maintains the existing condition for bail," the judge said.

Prior to this, the former Armada chief was allowed bail of RM330,000 for all charges and was ordered to surrender his passport to the court until the case was concluded. He was also required to report to the nearby Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) office once a month.

Azhar, in convicting Syed Saddiq in all charges, said that the court had given maximum consideration to the overall evidence as required by the law after hearing the testimonies of 29 prosecution witnesses and the accused himself, who gave sworn testimony, as well as four defence witnesses.

In mitigation, Syed Saddiq's lawyer Gobind Singh Deo requested the court to grant a stay of execution of the prison sentence and fine while an appeal is filed in the Court of Appeal, but Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohd 'Afif Ali opposed the request on the grounds that there were no special circumstances that would allow for a stay.

His other lawyer, Haijan Omar requested for leniency, saying that their client is the youngest in the family, unmarried, and needs to take care of his 66-year-old father and 62-year-old mother, both of whom are government pensioners.

"My client's parents are also present in court today. His father has just undergone cataract surgery, while his mother is suffering from breast cancer," he said.

The lawyer said the court should also take into consideration the deeds and contributions of his client, who was a former youth and sports minister from 2018 to 2020.

"When he was appointed as a minister, he was internationally recognised as the youngest minister in Asia.

"During his tenure, he was tasked with leading the historic constitutional amendment in the country, the Undi18, which paved the way for more than three million youth to vote starting from the 15th General Election.

"Among his significant contributions were raising the internship allowance from RM300 to RM900 and elevating Malaysia's name in the field of e-sports.

"As the MP for Muar, he also launched several initiatives to secure funds for providing laptops and tablets to thousands of underprivileged students in his parliamentary constituency.

"He also has no past criminal record, and I humbly request the court to impose either a prison sentence or a fine," the lawyer said.

Gobind also asked the court to consider the accused's defence and the testimonies of defence witnesses, which showed that the money in his client's case was used to help the public during the Covid-19 pandemic and also for other charitable purposes.

"The defence witnesses' testimonies show that the accused did not use the money for personal purposes," he said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin pressed for a prison sentence ranging from one to four years for each charge, with the sentences to run consecutively.

"For the charge of abetting to commit CBT, the prosecution suggests a fine of RM2 million with three to five strokes of the cane, for misappropriation of property a maximum fine of RM500,000 with five strokes of the cane, while for the two charges of money laundering, each is fined RM2 million," he said.

Wan Shaharuddin said that the court should take into account the public interest factor because there have been many cases of politicians being brought to court, and the public wants preventive punishment to be imposed.

"It doesn't matter if the person is 30 or 50 years old, if trust is placed on him, he should not betray that trust. So, the court should impose a deterrent punishment so that other Members of Parliament who want to commit such offences will think twice or thrice.

"The accused also cannot arbitrarily use the funds in the Armada account," he said.

The prosecution team also comprised deputy public prosecutors Noor Syafina Mohd Radzuan, Muhammad Asraf Mohamed Tahir and Mohd Shahrom Idris.

Apart from Gobind and Haijan, Syed Saddiq was also represented by Datuk S.Ambiga and Lim Wei Jiet. - BERNAMA